WASHINGTON — The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced a slew of new economic sanctions seeking to crack down on the Iranian military’s billion-dollar oil trade with China, marking the opening shot of Trump’s promised return to his “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.

The new sanctions targeted affiliates of Sepehr Energy, which the US government described as a front company selling Iranian crude oil abroad on behalf of the general staff of the Iranian armed forces, generating billions of dollars in revenue.

The sanctions also included an India-based maritime crew management company, Marshall Ship Management Private, Ltd., and Seychelles-based shipping company as well as three vessels flagged under Hong Kong and Panama and the firms that operate them.

“Sepehr Energy and its affiliate companies, which operate under the umbrella of the [Iranian armed forces general staff], use deceitful evasion methods such as falsification of maritime documents to obfuscate the Iranian origin of the oil that it trades and transports to overseas buyers” including China, a press release by the Treasury Department read.